It's nothing special, that's for sure. But the ten minutes of dorkiness per episode and plots that semi-revolve around wacky academics, who likely have Asburgers syndrome, make the crime procedural portion of it bearable.
I, along with most of the US apparently, need some kind of crime show to watch in the background while I fold laundry or vacuum. And rather than watch CSI which is totally stupid, especially the Miami one (that David Caruso is awful and who cast that walking bag of skin cancer in a show set in Florida?!!! He's a pale red head. It's suicide.) or the endless reruns of Law & Order (which is perfectly fine as a repetitive tv show - they've got a good pattern), I pick Numb3rs. I loathe the actual number in its title, but it's got five actors I really like and demonstrations of wacky physics phenomena.
Diane Farr (check her out on Rescue Me), Peter MacNicol (Fame), Judd Hirsch (Taxi was my favorite show when I was 4), David Krumholtz (slums of beverly hills), and Rob Morrow (hottie Jewish guy extraordinaire).